Road to the Oscars - S3 EP5 - BAFTA • CRITICS CHOICE • Oscars Director Category Discussed with Amy Smith - Rebel Wilson gives Putin the finger and Jane Campion marches on awkwardly

On this episode join David Long and Special guest Rotten Tomato approved critic Amy Smith as they discuss and analyse the 75th BAFTA awards, The Critics Choice Awards and also touch upon the Best Director category for the 94th Academy Awards. 

The show begins on home turf as David and Amy discuss the BAFTA awards. They talk about the telecast itself as well as the awards handed out and the speeches made. David was not a fan of Rebel Wilson and believes BAFTA got the tone of the show completely wrong but Amy has more positive things to say. As always there was some shocks and surprises as well as many awards being handed out as expected. Dune lead the way with 5 wins and looks to hold a strong hand for Oscars Sunday but both screenplay categories rendered surprise results and this may have an impact on the results come March 27th. The acting categories are beginning to look somewhat locked up with Best Actress perhaps the most open after Joanna Scanlan won Best Actress at the BAFTA’s. She beat a fine selection of nominees but none of them have been nominated at the Oscars. The other three acting categories are now looking like a done deal but some remain wide open at the Oscars; none more so than the editing category which went to No Time To Die. 

After analysing BAFTA David and Amy move onto the Critics Choice Awards and they both have some serious concerns. Are the Critics Choice just trying to predict the oscars? And if so, what impact does this have on the wider awards season calendar? There is no doubt viewership of awards ceremonies in down, but what’s the solution? David and Amy discuss. After a rough time at BAFTA, where Belfast surely needed to win it bounced back with a Best Acting Ensemble win but will this have any impact on the Oscars race? David of course uses this platform to once again champion Critics Choice winning The Mitchells Vs The Machines and credit Is given to Ari Wegner, the first female cinematographer to ever win a Critics Choice Award. 

The show concludes with some discussion and analysis of the Best Director category which looks absolutely locked up for Jane Campion, although her speech caused controversy! Will this impact the race? And who if anyone can beat her? 

Finally David and Amy answer some questions from twitter before David plugs the next episode; the predictions, featuring the one and only Craig Fields!